1. Background
This application relates to parking management systems and methods, particularly with regard to street cleaning.
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. PatentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee7,936,283B2Apr. 27, 2007Kim8,063,797B1Jul. 31, 2010Landman et al.7,973,641 B1Jun. 7, 2006Huang7,424,968B2Aug. 27, 2004Meyehofer et al.7,889,099B2Apr. 4, 2006Aubrey et al.7,741,965B2May 19, 2005Cheung et al.8,473,807B2May 10, 2005Kim et al.U.S. Patent Application PublicationPublication Nr.Kind CodePubl. DateApplicant20120285790A1Nov. 15, 2012Jones et al.20020190845A1Dec. 19, 2002Moore20030144890A1Jul. 31, 2003DanForeign Patent DocumentsCntry Foreign Doc. Nr.CodeKind CodePub. DtApp or Patentee2002063570WOA2Jan. 9, 2003Howard2105904EPA1Sep. 30, 2009Herwich
2. Prior Art
As urban areas began to grow, it was only natural for various problems relating to traffic patterns and parking management to simultaneously increase in these areas as well. At this time congestion became a major problem and concern for both municipalities and their citizens.
Private companies and municipalities are constantly working on different parking systems and methods to better control traffic flow, payment efficiency, traffic rules, parking regulations, parking regulation enforcement and a number of other elements directly relating to these problems.
Originally citizens were completely dependent upon posted signs for parking regulation rules. They were also dependent on single parking meters collecting coins at individual parking spots. Over time as technology advanced, so too did the parking options for citizens and municipalities.
Prior art discloses technology to offer an alternative to municipalities having a single parking meter designated for every parking space. However, this method is limited to paid parking areas only and does not address public parking that is not in a metered area. Others use technology to help citizens determine what parking restrictions apply to specific areas, however, this information is hard wired just as the signs on the street and provide no flexibility in real time. This is also limited to end users who are not only technologically savvy, but also have access to the physical technology to retrieve the information.
Still others use technology and range sensors to detect parking spaces, which again leaves a problem with regard to the overall flow of traffic as it is focused on a single parking space on a street or within a parking structure. Others use similar technology to alert enforcers as to when a vehicle is entering and parking in a restricted area. These again are focusing on one vehicle at a time.
All of the parking systems and methods heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) They all relate to a single parking spot within a larger street block or parking structure. This in itself can create several problems for the end user, whether it a citizen looking for parking or an official looking to enforce the rules and regulations. When alerted to an open space or available spot via different technologies, several citizens may rush to get to the same spot. This will be dangerous for pedestrians along the route as well as the other drivers trying to get to the same spot. In addition, the vehicles that are not successfully first to arrive to the spot will then be left in the same situation as they were prior to the alert of the newly opened space. The problem created for officials is that they are still in a position that they need to micromanage the system on a space by space basis. Officials still need to manually oversee every vehicle that they are monitoring and it does little to ease the administrative burden.
(b) When thinking in terms of singular spaces, even within larger methods or systems, there is a problem of excess emissions. Vehicles that are unsuccessful in securing the newly available single spot will be left idling and circling in wait for the next single space to become available.
(c) Street parking in municipalities is also in residential neighborhoods, however, the prior systems and methods focus only on the commercial and business districts that have paid parking spots. The residents of the other areas are left with the hardwired parking regulations and have no solutions made available to increase their quality of life.
(d) The systems and methods previously introduced allow users to check the status and regulations in the English language only. This is a problem for the many residents to whom English is not a first language.
(e) The prior art technologies are dependent upon the end user having a smartphone or having constant access to a smartphone, which is unrealistic for a large segment of the general population.
(f) The prior art technologies are useful exclusively to the technologically savvy citizen that would be able to navigate various web based and mobile applications to get to the end results. These systems discriminate the share of the citizens that are not knowledgeable of these technologies but still have a need for the information.